HYDERABAD. The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that India traditionally enjoyed a robust joint family system and the fast changing socio-economic conditions ware leading to its disintegration. He was addressing the gathering at the 18th National Conference of Senior Citizens organized by the All India Senior Citizens Confederation (AISCCON), at Hyderabad today.

The Vice President said that there was an inherent social security in our joint family system as it took great care of the elderly.

The Vice President said that with the emergence of nuclear families, the elderly were increasingly getting neglected and their dignity was also adversely affected. Whenever the family system fails in its duty to protect the elderly, the community, civil society and the government have to step in to fill the vacuum, he added.

The Vice President also expressed his concern over the instances of children abandoning their parents and said the neglect and abuse of the elderly was “abhorrent and completely unacceptable”.

Shri Naidu said that in spite of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior citizens Act 2007, the number of cases of children abandoning their elderly parents was on the rise. Apart from abandonment, the elderly also faced neglect, abuse, physical, verbal and emotional and other forms of violence, he added.(UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 30TH, 2018)